5 Killed as Student’s Car Plunges From Road at High Speed

Four young men and a teenage girl were killed Thursday when their car went out of control on the Antelope Valley Freeway during a race that reached a speed of 100 mph, authorities said.

The car careened off the freeway and plunged down a 75-foot embankment, said Officer Doug Sweeney, a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol.

The victims apparently were racing friends in three other cars to a gathering in Long Beach when the accident occurred about 1 p.m. south of Escondido Canyon, Sweeney said. The site is about 15 miles northeast of Santa Clarita.

“They were weaving in and out of traffic at 80 mph to 100 mph,” Sweeney said.

Witnesses told police the 17-year-old driver, Vanessa Yusi, suddenly tried to change from the middle lane to the far right lane. She lost control and flew off the road, they said.

Yusi, a senior at Highland High School in Palmdale, was flown by helicopter to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital in Valencia, where she died about 5:40 p.m.

Also killed were Yusi’s boyfriend, 19-year-old Shaun Perez; Jovannie Solano, 20; and John Kenneth Chu, 25, authorities said. The identity of the fifth victim, 18, was being withheld because his family had not been notified.

At the hospital, where more than a dozen friends and family members gathered, Andral Hagos sobbed in the lobby, his hands cradling his head.

“We really messed up,” said Hagos, who had been in one of the other cars.

“She was in the car behind me and I saw her go off.”

Three of the four passengers in the car that crashed were graduates of Highland High School, a school official said. Perez attended Palmdale High School, where he played fullback on the football team.

His former football coach, Jeff Williams, said Perez “was a pleasure to have around. He was a no-nonsense type of kid.”

After learning of the accident, Williams went to Perez’s home to console the family.

“I got the call and headed out,” he said. “We want to be there for Shaun’s mom. He was one of those kids who brought a lot of positiveness into our program, and we are going to miss him a lot.”

After the accident, Sweeney said, all three other cars stopped. Their drivers and passengers, 12 people in all, will be questioned in a criminal investigation, he said.

“They denied that they were racing,” Sweeney said. “They just said they were driving fast.”

Robert Girolamo, superintendent of the Antelope Valley Union High School District, said that when Highland High students return from spring break next week, crisis counselors will be on the campus to help them.

“Young people have a particularly hard time, because this doesn’t happen to them; young people don’t die,” he said.

Times staff writer Kristina Sauerwein contributed to this story.